Summary

Since the banning of Sensei’s Divining Top, new and interesting decks have been making the rounds in Legacy, and we have one such deck today. Whether it warranted a ban or not is debatable, but Miracles certainly did close off some interesting strategies, namely those who want to cast several low-cost spells, as they would see all of them countered by Counterbalance. With that soft-lock gone, let’s take a look at this Punishing U/R deck that loves casting spells.

Due to the deck’s ability to cast many spells in one turn and its ability to protect its sources of card advantage and damage, Flusterstorm gains a lot of value. It’s usually relegated to the sideboard, but it seems fair as a mainboard card here. When a deck like this churns through its cards so quickly, it’s important that it has a way of gaining card advantage that’s lost by casting its spells quickly. Punishing Fire does just this, as it provides a consistent way of killing most of the format’s cheap creatures, and can be brought back with Grove of the Burnwillows at a moment’s notice. Since Thing in the Ice hits hard on its flip side, the life gained by the opponent through Grove will rarely matter.